


who saves a hero

by evidenceofthingsnotseen



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: I have been tossing this over in my head for two years now hope it comes out okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 09:43:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15192068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evidenceofthingsnotseen/pseuds/evidenceofthingsnotseen
Summary: Alex Danvers dies and Supergirl stops. The world starts to connect the dots, incorrectly as it often does.





	who saves a hero

The year is 2090 and Kara Zor-El feels utterly and completely alone.  
  
This is far from the first time she's thought this.   
  
The first was when she'd awoken in the pod, years too early and light years too far from her planned destination. The Phantom Zone whispers isolation in her ear as she floats in total nothingness.  
  
She feels it again when Kal picks her up out of the pod. He's grown, nearly unrecognizable, cloaked in the humanity he's adopted. Were it not for the sigil on his chest, she would not have believed it was him. He says a clunky Kryptonese welcome, his tongue stumbling over the sound of her people.  
  
Kara has been on earth for 86 years now, having saved countless lives, unable to save Alex from the cruel and inevitable passage of time.  
  
She has mourned too much for someone who still looks so young. To a passing stranger, one might guess she was in her late 30's, but she has seen boundless loss in recent years. Lena died quickly and painlessly in their bed, having joked just the night before that people must have thought she was a cradle robber. Kara remembers with a choked back sob the silence when Lena's heart stopped beating. Lois had lived a long life as well, in accordance with Clark's final wish. It was a prayer made softly as he floated on the edge of the atmosphere, awaiting the final blow of an incoming asteroid laced with Kryptonite. Killed by remnants of the planet he'd sought refuge from.  
  
Through it all, world end to world end, Alexandra Caroline Danvers had survived. She'd gained notoriety in her time as a face of resilience and hope. Photos of her at every battle, pieced together by intelligence communities and conspiracy theorists alike. When she had retired from the DEO she was awarded the Congressional medal of honor, the highest possible accolade for an FBI agent, especially one whom FBI director had never heard of.   
  
"Decorated agent and hero, Alex Danvers, dies at 101" one headline reads. Kara smiles at the photo of Alex, wrinkled by time. She had always hated obituary photos from high school or college or weddings.  
  
"Give them a picture as I am, not as I was. I will have earned every line on my face," she'd told Kara once. It was a joke, told between blood spattered coughs, both of them not daring to look at the knife in her side until medic team arrived.  
  
Already her life was split into chapters, Alex's presence as good a divider as any.  
  
When the family sits Shiva for Alex, Winlow Schott the third brings the latest copy of Catco magazine. The cover is Alex and Supergirl in a split page design with the bold claim "Alex Danvers? Hero or SuperHero?"  
  
"Dad would have liked this," he says softly. Kara thumbs though the frantically written article, a big byline for a young reporter whose name Kara doesn't recognize. The article outlines all the times Alex was present during a crisis but gone at it's climax, asserting that her death coinciding with Supergirl's absence for the last few days is the final proof that she was in fact Supergirl. Kara laughs slightly, shocking the people around her. She can hear Alex screaming through her comms from command central.   
  
"Take care of this guy, Supergirl, or I'm coming out there to do it myself!"  
  
Kara hold the article close to her chest and decides that this time, Catco's gossip can be right. Connor sits solemnly in the corner with the other young ones. He's strong and capable, and maybe it's his turn.  
  
"She was my hero," Little Winn says softly. He's in his seventies but he'll always be Little Winn to her. "Dad always told me stories of Aunt Alex. If you want stories of Supergirl you can watch the news, he'd say, but these stories are secrets just for you. She was my hero."  
  
"Mine too."

So let the headlines say Alex was Supergirl. It's hard to say they're wrong.


End file.
